That night Raven slept well – so well that she woke seconds before the light flicked on, a pillow already raised like a shield in anticipation. "HA!" she stated triumphantly as if the sole purpose Eeth woke her each morning was an intentional slight on her personage. Nevertheless, the padawan was showered, dressed and ready for classes by the time breakfast was ready.

The day had started out great for Raven, but it did not continue as such. In fact, it got a great deal worse. Firstly, she got into a debate with Professor Kogan over the word count of her Iridonian Zabrak homework, which earned her a few swats with the whiteboard pointer and an additional 250 words to her personal count. And if that weren't enough to piss her off, one of the clumsy oafs working adjacent to her spilt sulphuric acid on her sleeve during chemistry, resulting in the removal of her entire tunic in the middle of a packed lab class! The stream of expletives she let fly over whispered comments regarding her lack of anything to hide landed her detention.

By the time Raven arrived at their quarters that afternoon, she had not only missed lunch with Lakhri and Flynt, but she was in one heck of a bad mood. Detention had consisted of copying out the periodic table for an hour which added insult to injury, and she had a shit load of extra work from both classes to top it off.

"Master," Raven greeted. She bowed while still moving, the action almost having her fall over her feet; disappearing was topmost on her priority list right now. She wanted to change her tunic, and, well, hashing this out with her master was not exactly something she was eager to begin either.

Eeth, however, had other ideas. While he was not going to reprimand his padawan for the results of a classmate's clumsiness, he was not at all pleased with the fact that she had earned herself a detention and that he had had another call from a displeased Zabrak teacher.

"Padawan, come here," he said sternly from the table where he was sitting, beckoning her over.

After three years as Eeth's apprentice, Raven knew that tone of voice well and wasn't about to compound her problems by ignoring it. Reluctantly, she dragged her feet to their dining room table, careful to keep it between herself and Eeth. Not that it would do much good. Still, Raven would take the false sense of security this gave her. "Yes?" she asked. It wasn't disrespectful, not exactly, but nor was it contrite.

"First of all," said Eeth, "I am not happy that your loss of temper caused you to earn a detention. We have been through the matter of how to deal with provocations, and this is not it. Second, may I ask what you did to offend Professor Kogan this time?"

Raven's brows pulled into a frown but she managed to keep her frustration in check. Just. "Professor Kogan is not a Jedi, and she shouldn't be teaching at the Temple. She's far too precious," Raven said matter-of-factly. "Besides, the old bat has it in for me. Everyone agreed that she set an impossibly high word count but I was the only one brave enough to say as much. We argued over how it wasn't up to me and that I shouldn't question her. I may have addressed a sore point by muttering something about the hot poker when she was walking away, but!" Raven backed up a pace, hands raised in placation, "she has already punished me for that. It still hurts, plus I have an additional 250 words of rubbing salt into the wound to boot."

Eeth's eyes narrowed. "I think I made it quite clear that I do NOT want you to use such language in front of a teacher ever again," he snapped. "Do you remember what I told you would happen if you did?"

Raven did, but she didn't want to say as much and so she folded her arms defensively. "I didn't aim any comments towards or even at her. I mumbled it to Reese. What right does she have eavesdropping on my private conversations anyway? Maybe someone should go whale on her fat ass with a whiteboard pointer for disrespecting my privacy." It wasn't like Raven to be this nasty towards a teacher, yet Kogan had truly rubbed her up the wrong way. Besides, she was becoming increasingly frustrated with her life lately, something that she wasn't keen to share with Eeth for a number of reasons, least of which was his likely response: 'You did not choose this career for your enjoyment!'

Eeth wordlessly rose from his chair, stepped around the table, grabbed Raven by the ear and started bending her over.

"Master, wait! Kogan, she already stung me with that stupid pointer she carries around, and I got extra work!" Raven rushed to protest. She wouldn't fight Eeth, but nor was she happy with where this was going.

Unperturbed by her pleas, Eeth tucked her under his arm, pulled out his paddle and brought it down onto her bottom.

"When I tell you that I will add to your teacher's punishment, that is what I will do," he informed her, letting a second swat follow. "You know I do not make empty threats. It was precisely the inadvisable remark about the hot poker that made me promise to punish you on top of what you have received from your teacher if ever there was a repeat occurrence. I do not care who you said it to. Nor do I appreciate the disrespectful way in which you continue talking about your teacher in my presence." He underlined that message with a third swat.

Eeth wasn't messing around here. Raven's ass was already burning, and given that she had not completely lost her mind, she wisely decided not to continue challenging him. "Lemme up, pleeease. I'll stop!" Raven was unsure if this was punishment for the detention or Kogan or both, but in any case she rushed to add, "I'm sorry!"

Without giving her an immediate reply, Eeth dealt out another three swats, each drawing a yelp from Raven. Then he stuck the paddle back into his belt and released his hold on her.

"Right," he said grimly. "Let us try this part of the conversation again. What did you do that merits additional punishment, on top of what you have already received from Professor Kogan?"

Raven tried to look dignified about all of this, but it just came across as pouty. Eeth had put the paddle away, but Raven wasn't stupid enough to think that he couldn't pull it out again. "I mumbled to Reese that my count was off, that she had more than one hot poker up her ass, and she heard me. You said there would be additional consequences if I said anything like that again." It had been a short but honest reply, sans efforts to exploit technicalities.

"Correct," Eeth said curtly. He pulled out a chair and sat down. "Bare your bottom and get over my lap," he ordered unceremoniously. Lunch was waiting, after all. He wanted to get this over with.

"But you just paddled me, and I still have three welts from Professor Kogan. See for yourself!" Raven came to stand before him, undid her belt, and bunched her tunic while pulling down one side of her pants with the other, baring one cheek for his inspection. "Look?"

"I paddled you for continuing to insult your teacher and for refusing to accept responsibility for your appalling behaviour," Eeth said stoically. "Now I will punish you for said appalling behaviour, on top of what you received from your teacher. Just as I promised I would. If you are not in position in ten seconds, I will send you to fetch an implement from my cupboard."

Raven knew Eeth would be counting off the time in his head – he was irritatingly precise when it came to timeliness – and that he would follow through with his threat. She stomped in frustration, which had the fortunate side effect of dropping the other side of her trousers, so there was nothing else to do but drop the rest and bend over. There was just no dignified way of doing this! Awkwardly, she leant forward, her hands braced on his left thigh briefly while her hips pressed into his right. With a bit of wriggling, her hands shifted forward, one gripping the chair leg and the other on the floor. Her feet came off the ground, which always made her feel like a youngling if the position itself did not already achieve that. "Please, can't you take into consideration that it already hurts," she whined.

Eeth did not dignify this with a response. He raised his hand and brought it down onto her bottom smartly. In light of the fact that she did have three welts and had already received six swats with his paddle, he did not use anything but his hand, but nor was he going to go easy on her. If his padawan had such a hard time controlling herself, she needed better incentives, he felt.

Raven had known at the time that there was a chance Kogan would hear what she said to Reese, and in the heat of the moment, she had wanted her to hear! She had taken the gratifying route, justifying it to herself with the knowledge that Kogan deserved it; that she deserved to feel her wrath, however tempered. That was until she had found herself walking towards their quarters that afternoon because by then, all the 'Dark Side' had drained clean out of her, and there was nothing left but apprehension, a little guilt and what she thought was a well-constructed argument. It was not. What the Force had she been thinking, disobeying Eeth like that? Kogan might be a mean old troll who Raven would swear had it in for her, but no amount of personal satisfaction was worth this! A fact that was currently being made pointedly clear. Raven 'OWw ed!' and 'AHHh ed!' with increasing volume until she lost count of how many Eeth had landed and started protesting in earnest.

Unfortunately for Raven, Eeth did not think his padawan had nearly had enough. He knew exactly how tempting it must be for his temperamental padawan to take the gratifying route with a teacher she did not like. That was why he wanted to counter that temptation with a strong deterrent. Thus, he continued the spanking, and the pace and force of his swats did not abate in the slightest. He was thoroughly displeased with the way Raven had acted. Her impression that everybody "had it in for her" seemed to be turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy, and that would have to stop.

If you asked Raven, everyone was on her back about everything, but it was more than that. It was the endless duties, chores, responsibilities, lack of freedom and fun! Furthermore, Eeth was always putting his duty to the Council above her. It made her feel mad, or was it sad? Guilty? Hurt? It was probably all of those at once. She had mentioned it to Lakhri more than once and he had suggested she talk to Eeth about it, but the right time had just not come up, and it sure as hell wasn't NOW! The hand that was on the floor grabbed his leg, and she tried to push herself up, wriggling and writhing to escape his hand. Raven couldn't help it. This hurt!

Eeth tightened his hold around Raven's waist and gave her a dozen more heavy swats, focusing most of them onto the lowest part of her bottom where she would feel them when sitting down. Then he stopped. When her sobs had quieted down to the extent where she would be able to hear him, he said sternly, without releasing his hold on her, "The next time I hear that you started an argument with a teacher about the amount of homework she set you, I will personally double your workload. And you will do all of that work on a sore bottom. Is that understood?"

"Yes, master, understood!" Raven hiccoughed into her sleeve. There was no doubt in her mind whatsoever that Eeth would follow through with his threat, and having her workload doubled was the stuff of nightmares as far as Raven was concerned. Her ass was on fire, and she just wanted to be let up so she could start rubbing out the sting. All the fight had been spanked clean out of her, though, so there was no struggling to get up or demands for the same. That seemed to work because Eeth helped steady her as she stumbled to her feet and handed her a handkerchief.

"Good," he said firmly. "Go and clean yourself up a little. Lunch will be in ten minutes." He was going to offer some healing, but not right now. He wanted the lesson to sink in.

Ten minutes later, Raven entered their kitchen, head down and feeling sorry for herself. "Want help?" she asked sheepishly, while doing an excellent job of pretending that she had not spent the last nine minutes sitting on the cold tiles in her refresher sulking over what a mean and unreasonable master Eeth was.

"Take these to the table," Eeth replied, handing her a plate of small, round, flat loaves of bread stuffed with seasoned roast vegetables. He had prepared the vegetables last night and baked the bread while Raven was in school. In the rare cases in which he had some free time on his hands, Eeth liked to cook. Creating a filling meal out of wholesome ingredients had always given him a sense of satisfaction, maybe because he had gone hungry so often as a child.

"Did you make these?" Raven asked, taking a sample bite. "It's good!"

"Padawan, can you not wait until we are seated?" Eeth scolded, earning a tut from Raven, which drew her a withering look from Eeth. "Yes, I did make these," he said with a hint of a warning in his voice. "It is a staple food in Kor Vella on Corellia. I spent some time there on an undercover mission as a young knight and found work as a chef at a tourist restaurant."

"What was the mission mandate?" Raven asked curiously, setting the plate on their table and eyeing the chair warily. Sitting was going to be unpleasant, so she resigned herself to standing to eat if Eeth would allow it.

Eeth watched her for a moment, wavering. Then he stepped over to one of the armchairs, took a pillow and put it onto Raven's seat. He fleetingly wondered why he was doing that. Lakhri had either been squirming on his chair or eating his meals standing up on such occasions. As was clear from the surprised look on Raven's face, she was also wondering.

"The mission mandate was to spy on a number of wealthy businessmen and politicians who were involved in a big corruption scandal," Eeth told his padawan, sitting down and indicating for her to do the same. "They usually met in Kor Vella under the pretense of taking a vacation. I needed a reason to be there that would not rouse anyone's suspicions, so I looked for work. It was tourist season, and therefore, it was easy to find a job. The restaurant I worked at was perfect for my purpose. It was very popular among rich tourists. The food was prepared in the middle of the restaurant with everybody watching and was served from the oven right onto their plates, while the bread was still hot. I overheard many interesting conversations there."

"They have those restaurants on Coruscant, too. Maybe we can go sometime? It would be educational to see how they make things," Raven said, opting to lure Eeth into saying yes by pointing out the education value first. "Also, if they cook it right in front of us, you can be sure that if they drop it on the floor, it won't end up on your plate."

"We could go, yes," Eeth replied. "Most of them are rather expensive, though. There are a few affordable Corellian chefs in the Tobgu sector. It is a quite a way from here so we would need to have a free Sunday in order to go. This type of cooking is indeed renowned for its cleanliness. That suited me well while I was on Kor Vella." Ever since having grown up on Nar Shaddaa, Eeth tended to be as meticulous about hygiene as possible.

The meal was delicious, and after getting details on exactly how he made it, Raven helped clean up and went to get her work. Her ass still hurt, so she went to lie on the common room floor, but she couldn't get comfortable. Eeth scrutinised her for a moment, considering whether to heal her now or after she had completed her schoolwork. Finally, he decided that she had learned her lesson. And besides, school was important.

"Lie on the couch," he told her. "I will provide some healing."

As much as being offered a pillow to sit on after punishment had gone down in the annals of

'unexpected acts of mercy', as far as Raven was concerned, having Eeth heal her afterwards was not at all unusual. "Thanks, I was wondering. I mean, I thought maybe you were going to make me suffer this time because of Professor Kogan and all." Raven guessed that the constant bitching between herself and Kogan was to blame for that punishment.

"Well, if we have to have this conversation again, I will not be so lenient," Eeth said sternly.

"Yes, master, I know," Raven replied warily.

Despite his stern words, Eeth took care to take away most of the sting. Then he made Raven resume her homework. There was more than enough of it after today's debacle, and Raven would have to put in a lot of work if she wanted to get it all done by Saturday evening. His promise to take her out on Sunday still stood, but he was not going to leave if his padawan still had work left to do by then.

Raven spent the entire afternoon working on classwork and studying, only pausing long enough to visit the refresher and to eat the snack Eeth had put by her side. When it was finally time for their afternoon workout, Raven was more than ready for a break. She rolled onto her side and scrubbed at tired eyes with a balled fist. "This much work ought to be illegal." It was said tongue-in-cheek, but she was facing away from Eeth so that he couldn't see her expression.

"If that is the way you feel," said Eeth drily, "you will resent the workout I have in store for you."

True to his word, he engaged her in a sparring session that forced her to give everything she had and some more. He knew how restless Raven could get when she had a lot of schoolwork to do, and exercise helped her a great deal. He also knew that his padawan was perseverant where physical activity was concerned and did not easily give up, which was one of her strengths. Today, he capitalised on that fact because it was the best he could think of, given Raven's current state of almost permanent frustration.

When they finally stopped, she fell to the ground, starfished and panting.

"Get up, drink some water and take a walk around the room," Eeth told her firmly.

"Walk? I can't breathe," came the token complaint. Despite her fatigue, Raven had a satisfied grin on her face. The workout had improved her mood considerably, and by the time they were done showering, she was feeling much better. "Lakhri and Flynt would be on their way to Borleias by now," Raven commented distractedly as they made their way back to their quarters.

"They should be," replied Eeth. "I do not think you have much reason to be jealous, though. They will mainly sit in meetings, as we did when we were moderating the biannual hyperspace communication frequencies conference. But I am sure they will have the occasional opportunity to go to the beach, so Flynt should be fine."

"Flynt's far better at withstanding that sort of crap, uh, I mean opportunities to learn patience and utilise diplomacy skills, than I am. Boring conference notwithstanding, it was beautiful, and we never did get to see the rainforest." Raven closed her eyes and smiled at the memory of playing vossball on the beach with Bree and Amon, the evening bonfire and especially the swimming with Eeth. If it had to be diplomatic, then Raven wanted it on Borleias!

"None of us could help falling ill," Eeth replied. "There will be other opportunities. Borleias is a fairly common venue for conferences and negotiations. I have been there at least three times as a padawan, and I am sure you will get to go again. I can volunteer for next year's hyperspace communications frequencies conference if you are interested."

He said it with an entirely straight face although he had a fairly clear idea what Raven was going to think of this proposal.

"Not after what happened last time. If the boredom doesn't kill us, those damned Nemoidians just might." As un-Jedi-like as it was, Raven still held a grudge as Eeth had almost died, courtesy of the virus those rotten bugs had given them.

Eeth just gave her a stony look in response. This was a silly notion. The Trade Federation might be many things but they were not stupid, and they would certainly not try the same trick twice.

"Anyway," Raven continued, undeterred, "aren't we allowed to visit a place simply because we are interested? Why does it always have to be for some sort of work?" Of course, she and Eeth had been through this dance many times over the years, but recently it seemed to bug her more than usual. In fact, everything bugged her more than usual.

"I presume you do not want to get me started on talking about the career choice you have made," Eeth said evenly.

"You presume correctly," countered Raven stiffly.

"Then you will just have to accept that there are very few occasions on which we are granted such things as vacations," said Eeth. "At some point, a Jedi might be granted leave to visit their biological family, or to recover from injuries or trauma. At most, we will be allowed to extend a mission for a few days to give you an opportunity to see more of other planets, as long as it does not affect your training schedule. Such a thing as a right to vacation does not exist for Jedi, as you well know."

"I do accept it, I just don't always like it." Raven gave him a hopeful look. "Speaking of never getting to do anything fun, I don't suppose you'll let me go to the lounge?"

"I will," said Eeth, "but remember that we will only go out on Sunday if your work is done by then. I leave it up to you to employ good judgment and make sure that is the case."

Unsurprised to be reminded about the conditions of their trip, Raven gave Eeth a put-upon expression. Putting the ball in her court meant that she couldn't blame him for anything – a sneaky move. "Fine then," she said and went to start working.

The next evening went much the same, which meant she had a rough draft of her Iridonian Zabrak assignment finished, completed the extra chemistry and covered four units of revision for the biology exam on Monday. "I'll finish the biology revision tomorrow, and I'll be ready," Raven announced proudly when crawling into bed late Friday evening. She was hoping fervently that Eeth would consider her work acceptable and that their trip into the city would still be on, but didn't want to ask.

"That is good to hear," Eeth replied with a small smile. "You are doing well. I am glad you are committing yourself to your schoolwork for once." He thought it best to mention this because his padawan was not always this diligent, and when she was, she deserved to be encouraged.

"Thank you, master. I'm trying," said Raven, because despite her tired state, she honestly did want Eeth's praise. But she was also diligent because, as far as she was concerned, there was a lot more riding on this than a good mark and a placated master. She was being selfish and wanted that trip to the city; she wanted the time with Eeth. He had been so busy with his Council duties that he had not had much time for what Raven considered fun stuff, not that her serious, hard-working master would consider anything they did 'fun'.

The following day, Raven once again woke to feeling energised, so much so that when Eeth entered her room and flicked on her light, she was already sitting up. "I know, I know, I'm going," she grumbled, if only to keep up appearances; Raven couldn't have Eeth thinking she was growing accustomed to his military style of training, after all.

"Good morning," Eeth said mildly, giving her a brief smile. "Get ready for the day, please."

Raven yanked off the one remaining bed sock, hopping so as not to stumble as she made for the refresher. Force only knew what had happened to the other sock.

When Raven had sat down for breakfast a little while later, Eeth asked, "Would you like to go to the pools for our workout this afternoon? If you manage to get through your class without any further detentions or complaints from your teacher, that is."

Oh great, so now he's resorting to bribery, thought Raven, and she flushed slightly at all the trouble she had caused him lately. "I would, yes. And, Ye of little faith."

"I think after the events of the last two weeks, some caution is warranted," said Eeth drily.

Raven gave him a haughty look, but that was the extent of her protestations.

Fortunately for Raven, she did not have classes with Professor Kogan today, nor would she be putting up with chemistry. Today was the day of her mission preparation class on medicine, and they were moving from the lymphatic system to something far more fascinating: the brain! Raven was genuinely looking forward to this class. She finished her breakfast and morning routine in record time and stood before Eeth earlier than was typical. "I'm done, can I go?" she asked, pausing briefly to brush off her tunic and straighten her belt.

"Yes, you may," Eeth replied. "Meet me in the dining hall after class. I will be in a Council meeting all morning, which means that I will not have the time to prepare anything for lunch."

Raven inclined her head slightly, bowed, and took off.

Five hours later, Raven strode into the packed dining hall. She did not bother trying to find Eeth with her eyes. Instead, she was just about to reach out across their bond when a hand came to rest gently on her shoulder. The padawan jumped. "Master," she greeted Eeth smoothly, trying to cover the fact that not only had she failed to sense his approach, but he'd also scared the crap out of her.

"Padawan," Eeth replied, the edges of his mouth twitching slightly. "I only just arrived. Political tensions are high and there was a lot to discuss."

"I know. I'm surprised the Council lets you leave at all," Raven replied whilst following him towards the line of trays. She didn't say it, and it didn't carry in her tone, but Raven did feel like the Council was sweeping her under the rug.

Eeth gave her a scrutinising look, but since he was unsure whether she meant to imply anything by this statement or not, he did not comment. "How was your morning?" he asked.

"It was awesome," Raven told him as she served herself lunch. "We got to slice up a brain and look at all the parts." Naturally this had all been done virtually, otherwise Raven would have gotten herself into yet another mess.

When they sat to eat, Raven looked up at Eeth with a curious expression. "Did you know that your brain can live for up to six minutes without oxygen, and that it doesn't feel any pain?" And so it went throughout their lunch, Raven sharing what she had learned as it came to her. "Did you know your brain isn't fully developed until you're twenty-five? Maybe that's why the Council rarely knights padawans before then. I rather think my brain is ahead of most, though, I'm sure to be an exception!" Of course, Raven did not acknowledge the trouble she still found on a regular basis; it ran counter to her statement, after all.

Eeth looked at her with an amused expression. "I think you are ahead of most in some areas," he said, "and not so much ahead in others. Math, for example. Be that as it may, the decision on when you will be knighted will depend on your mental discipline, not on the maturity of your brain."

Raven tilted her head to one side, contemplating his words. "So you're saying I'm ready now. I can read between the lines." Raven grinned.

"No, you cannot," said Eeth. "Let us go home. You should do school work for an hour, then we will go to the pools. Unless you would prefer us to do kata practice?"

Raven snorted, not dignifying that with an answer.

The next morning, Eeth let Raven sleep for half an hour longer than he usually did on Sundays. Given that they were going to play hide-and-seek in the lower levels before moving on to Rodian Rhythms, he wanted her well-rested. On the other hand, he did not want to waste half the morning. Thus, he finally knocked on her bedroom door and entered to wake her up.

"Time to get up, padawan," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Breakfast is waiting for you."

"Alllllriggghhhtttt," the padawan groaned, but it was only for show. Raven was looking forward to the day, which was why she skidded into the kitchen on socked feet barely ten minutes later.

"Master," she greeted with a curt bow. "Thanks for letting me sleep in. Want help?" she added. It looked as if Eeth had already prepared a big breakfast on his own. There were rolls, jam, cheese, yoghurt, honey, and fruit all set out ready for the table. Eeth felt that this was warranted because did not know when an opportunity to have lunch would arise.

They set the table together and talked about their plans while they ate. After having cleared the dishes away, they got ready for the day. "Where should we go first?" Raven asked, springing from foot to foot in what was a poorly controlled effort at composure if ever there was one. Eeth found it hard to suppress a smile at Raven's enthusiasm; the girl was practically dancing with excitement. Nevertheless, he insisted that she brush her hair one more time before they left, whereupon he finally deigned to answer her question.

"We will go to Diantim, a district in the lower levels that I believe we have not yet been to," Eeth said as he closed the door to their quarters behind himself. "Densely populated. Most people live off sorting, trading and recycling garbage since the district is close to the garbage pits. It will not be easy to track and find me there. I hope you are up to the challenge."

Raven snorted. Of course she was up to the challenge, what sort of a question was that, said the look on her face. Eeth smiled a little.

They were just leaving the turbolift and were about to enter the speeder garage when Eeth's comlink started beeping in a frequency that denoted an urgent message from the Council. Raven shot daggers at the device, silently imploring her master to ignore whomever it was. This was something that Eeth could not do, of course, even though this was such inconvenient timing that he felt inclined to suppress a groan. His exasperation did not show on his impassive face, however. He merely held up a hand, signaling for Raven to stop, and accepted the call. A holographic image of Mace Windu appeared in front of him.

"The delegation on Antar IV–" was all Mace got out before Raven stepped into the hologram beside Eeth.

"Isn't there someone else who can deal with Antar?" she asked flatly, barely containing her hurt and annoyance at once again having the Council take precedence over her. Or at least this was how she saw it.

"They already are dealing with Antar," said Mace Windu, visibly annoyed. "And yet, we need your master."

Eeth sent his padawan a surge of disapproval through their bond which caused her to flinch. He knew that for Mace Windu to call him on an emergency frequency, it must be, well… an emergency. And therefore, presumably, there was no time to lose.

"What happened to the delegation on Antar IV?" he asked.

"They have been taken hostage," said Mace Windu. "Four Jedi, including a padawan, and eight Senate representatives. Antar III is threatening to blow them to smithereens, and it doesn't seem to be an empty threat. We need you in the Council chamber immediately."

"I will be there in three minutes," Eeth replied promptly.

He deactivated the call and turned towards Raven. Under different circumstances, he would have told her off for interrupting his call, at the very least, but even he could see that her unacceptable behaviour had been caused by major disappointment.

"Padawan, believe me, I am truly sorry for this," he said, his voice tinged with regret, which was very unlike him. "But the Council needs me. Master Windu is right, this cannot wait, nor be delegated to anyone else. There are lives at stake and I am the only person available who has some knowledge of the Antar system. We will have to postpone our outing, I am afraid. You may have the day off to do whatever you like as long as it does not violate any rules. I will try to be with you as fast as I can, but I have no idea how long I will be, unfortunately."

Raven's shoulders slumped even lower, but she knew Eeth was right; he had to do his duty, and she had to do hers. So, as much as it hurt, she sucked it up and nodded. "May the Force be with you," she told him, trying to accept this with the dignity Eeth would expect, with mixed success.

Eeth now did something he rarely did: he gave her a brief hug. "And with you, padawan," he said gently, released her and strode off towards the Council chambers. He had not lied; he was really and truly sorry for this. But he did not see what could be done about it, and dwelling on it would not gain them anything, it would just prevent him from fulfilling his duties.

Raven stood there for a long moment just staring at the closed turbo lift doors. Eeth had given her the day off which would ordinarily have her turning cartwheels, but Raven didn't want to spend it alone moping around the Temple, she wanted to spend it with her master!

She was so wrapped up in her personal pity party that Orion had to practically shout to get her attention. "Hey, Raven. What's up?" he asked, noticing her dour expression.

"Hey, Orion, sorry, I'm just…" She sighed. "Depressed," she finished.

Orion raised a brow because this was new. Yes, Raven could be a pest sometimes, but she had never said she was 'depressed', at least not in all the years he'd known her. "Depressed over what?" he inquired, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and guiding her towards the lounge where he was supposed to be meeting with Bindi and Greg.

"Eeth has been promising we'd go into the city for weeks and every time we plan to go, something more important comes up. I've been working my ass off and stayed out of trouble," she huffed. "We were almost at the speeder when the Council contacted him about Antar."

"You know that the life–" Orion started, quoting a speech he had heard from Master Deleon any number of times.

"– of a Jedi is not about my personal satisfaction. Yes, yes I KNOW," Raven finished for him, holding up a hand to stave off his lecture before it began. "I know it's important. I know it is duty before personal pursuits and I know I didn't CHOOSE. THIS. CAREER. TO. HAVE. FUN! But you know what, sometimes it sucks bantha balls! And I'm allowed to feel frustrated!" Raven hadn't meant to rant at Orion, but she needed to vent.

Orion nodded sympathetically. He knew Raven idolised Eeth, and he also knew how busy the man was. This wouldn't be easy for her. "Are you allowed to come to the lounge or do you have orders?" he enquired, pausing at the entrance.

"He gave me the day off, probably out of guilt," she said, even though she knew it wasn't true; Eeth had felt remorse for having to let her down, but not guilty over doing his duty.

"Raven, I thought you were …" Bindi started but cut her inquiry short at noticing Orion shake his head in warning.

"Yeah, I thought I was, too," Raven replied, flopping into the chair next to Bindi's with a huff. "Cancelled. Again!"

"Look on the bright side: now you're free to come with us, since we have a day off, too. Unless he's making you study?" said Bindi, ever the optimist.

"No more studying today," Raven said, and for the first time since Eeth had left, she smiled.

Bindi leant into her friend's shoulder. She understood how Raven felt as her own master was also in high demand at the moment. "Antar can't fight forever."

"I know, but it doesn't change the fact that everything takes precedence over me," Raven admitted.

At this moment, Greg entered the lounge, an older friend of theirs whose acquaintance Raven had made through Orion. Orion had been on two missions with Greg already because Greg's master, Elyra, and Master Deleon often worked as a team.

"Guess what?" Greg said, a huge smile plastered on his face. "I got free tickets for today's grand light show in the HoloDome. Master Elyra and I recently helped their crew track down a gang of drug dealers who were targeting underage visitors of their shows, and they promised they'd send us tickets whenever they have free seats in return. Well, today's the day. Are any of you free? Elyra gave me permission to go and take up to five friends because that's the number of tickets we got."

Both Bindi and Orion didn't hesitate. They pulled out their comlinks and paged their masters for permission. Raven, however, gave Greg a pained look. "Eeth's in some important conference about Antar."

"No harm in trying?" Greg suggested. "I won't be leaving until after lunch. Maybe he'll answer."

Raven didn't think so, but given that Orion and Bindi had both gotten permission, she was now feeling left out as well as neglected by Eeth.

"I guess the worst that can happen is he doesn't answer," Raven agreed, with far more confidence than she actually felt, and pulled her comlink from her belt.

The three apprentices sat quietly and watched as Raven punched in Eeth's code, but as predicted, he did not answer. For some reason, from Raven's perspective, this simply added insult to injury; she wasn't even important enough to answer her call any more!

In fact, Eeth was in the middle of a statement to Antar III's rebel leaders and he was in no position to pull out his comlink and talk to Raven. He was, however, wondering if something was the matter with her that needed his attention, and consequently, without missing a beat in his talk, he sent an inquiry through their bond.

Despite being annoyed over getting pushed aside again, Raven knew she had to respond. For lack of better options, she signalled him that there was nothing urgent and she was not in trouble.

"Surprise, surprise, he's still busy with more important things," Raven said, frowning. "Sorry, I'm not much company at the moment. I'm going back to my quarters to mope for a while." The slightly pained expression on her face let them know that she wasn't really serious.

"Alright, but if you manage to get hold of him, we're catching the shuttle from platform four at 1400," Greg said.

"Master, are you home?" Raven called as she entered their quarters after lunch. He was not, and her face fell again. She had hoped Eeth would have time to spend the afternoon, but apparently this was not to be. Folding her arms, Raven made a decision: fine, if he was going to be gone all day, there wasn't much point in hanging around here bored. It was her only day off and she was going to make the most of it, with or without Eeth's company.

Half an hour later, Raven skidded to a halt at platform four just in time to see Bindi enter the shuttle. "I changed my mind," was all she said upon receiving three enquiring expressions.

"I don't think this is such a good idea," Orion said, trying but failing to be the voice of reason, "If Councilor Koth finds out, h …"

"I don't give a shit what Councillor Koth says," Raven snapped, feeling like she were Eeth's last priority. "He can tell it to the Council, that's all he cares about."

"You don't want him to tell it to the Council," said Greg solemnly. "Trust me. I've been there."

"What happened?" Raven asked. Her curiosity was piqued and she was eager to get the spotlight off her own sad state of affairs.

Greg grimaced. "Morg and I snuck off during a mission to Rolapore because we wanted to check out the nightlife and our masters said we needed our sleep and were too young. We ended up getting into a fight with the son of the Clyrian Ambassador and it caused a major diplomatic crisis. Our masters were mad enough to throw us to the Council. I got off with being told off and put on probation, with a gazillion hours of community service to boot, which was horrifying enough. For Morg, it was a repeat offence and he actually received a formal caning."

"By whom?" asked Bindi.

Greg coughed and threw a furtive glance at Raven, who realised immediately that it must have been Eeth. "I don't envy Morg," she said. "Eeth is lethal with a cane. He seems to know exactly the point when it hurts most before landing another one." The thought had her sober for a moment, and Raven started reconsidering her decisions. But that did not last long because as they soon arrived at the HoloDome, all thoughts of Eeth and his lack of time for her were replaced by a laser light show that had to be seen to be believed.